!!Listed Trivia:* ActingForTwo: ** Sir Pat Stu: " [[{{Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E13TimeSquared}} Time Squared]]" (Creator/PatrickStewart plays two Picards), and a dual role as [[Theatre/HenryV Michael Williams]] in Data's holodeck play in "[[{{Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E10TheDefector}} The Defector]]".** Two-Takes Frakes: "[[{{Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E22SecondChances}} Second Chances]]" (Creator/JonathanFrakes plays two Rikers).** Fully Functional: Any episode with Data & Lore or their "father" Dr. Noonien Soong. (Also see the episode " [[{{Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS4E3Brothers}} Brothers]]" which was ''[[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Acting For Three]]'' (including one stint in enough make up to make a Klingon's actor cry.) And let's not forget "[[{{Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E8AFistfulOfDatas}} A Fistful of Datas]]", where Data plays...a fistful of ancient Western stock-characters.* ActorAllusion:** Similar to how Sisko does with baseball, Picard enjoys using Shakespeare as a metaphor for the human condition. Of course, everyone knows about Stewart's background in Shakespearean theater; he quotes ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' in " [[{{Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E9HideAndQ}} Hide and Q]]", and participates in Data's production of ''Theatre/HenryV''.** ''TNG'' had a minor in-show example: In "[[{{Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E24S7E1Descent}} Descent]] (Part 2)" the ''Enterprise'' is forced to hide within a star's corona by using an experimental shield. The lieutenant at Tactical doesn't think that the shield will work, but is proven wrong. The actor played a different character in a previous episode who tried to make it appear that the shield ''didn't'' work.** In "[[{{Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS3E23Sarek}} Sarek]]", Wesley gets ticked at Geordi and taunts him by saying, "At least I'm not spending the night with [[ReadingRainbow a good book]], like some people!" Geordi seems to take this remark rather personally.** In "Half A Life," David Ogden Stiers guest-stars as an alien scientist doing research work on the ''Enterprise''. One of his report readouts is attempt number [[Film/{{Mash}} 4077]].* BannedInChina: "The High Ground" got banned from broadcast in both the UK and the Republic of Ireland due to a line about Ireland being reunited in 2024 following a successful "terrorist" campaign.** "Conspiracy" was banned for a time in the U.K. because of the infamous "exploding Remmick" scene.* BilingualBonus : The "Harami Cluster." Harami means "bastard" in Hindi.* CaliforniaDoubling: Lore's Rogue Borg compound in "The Descent" is The House of the Book performance hall and library building at the American Jewish University, Brandeis-Bardin Campus in Simi Valley, California.* TheCastShowoff:** Many episodes feature Riker playing the trombone, because Creator/JonathanFrakes really does play trombone. And the episode "Data's Day" features Dr. Crusher teaching Data how to dance, because Gates [=McFadden=] is an accomplished dancer and choreographer.** Creator/PatrickStewart reciting Shakespeare. Well, they had to get it in there ''somehow''.** Both Creator/PatrickStewart and Creator/BrentSpiner get a chance to show off their pipes. Picard leads his men in a sea shanty on not one, but two occasions: as an alien facsimile in "Allegiance", and in ''Insurrection'' (where he and Data sing "A British Tar" with relish). ** ''Everyone'' in the cast sings, pretty well too. Creator/BrentSpiner cut an album of Jazz standards (and some new material) a few years back where his backup singers were Patrick Stewart, Creator/MichaelDorn, Creator/LeVarBurton and Creator/JonathanFrakes, It was spectacular.** Averted in the episode ''Qpid'', where the main characters engage in some medieval fighting in a fantasy recreation of RobinHood. Only the men were given swordfighting scenes, in spite of the fact that the two female leads, Creator/MarinaSirtis and Creator/GatesMcFadden, were the only ones in the cast who actually knew how to fence.* CreatorBacklash: ** The producers grew to hate the [[ShouldersOfDoom overly-broad shouldered]] uniforms worn by the Romulans.** Creator/WilWheaton would like you to know he hated Wesley as much as you, thank you.** The cast hated "Angel One" and demanded changes. Believe it or not, the first draft was even ''more'' sexist. There's no salvaging "Code of Honor", though.* CreativeDifferences: ** "''Creator/PatrickStewart WILL NEVER BE MENTIONED AGAIN in connection with Star Trek!''" -- actual memo from Creator/GeneRoddenberry. Fortunately, Patrick had a champion in Rick Berman, director Corey Allan, and others who helped rig the auditions in his favor. From the Blu-Ray TNG reunion:--->'''Michael Dorn''': [[FailedASpotCheck Two seasons later]], he's like, "...what is ''he'' still doing here?!"\\'''Jonathan Frakes''': "I told them NO!"** With the high profile of ''The Next Generation'' securing his position, Roddenberry was able to leverage more control over the [[StarTrekExpandedUniverse tie-ins]] set inside his universe. His archivist, Richard Arnold, immediately began cleaning house. The on-going Creator/DCComics ''Star Trek'' series was immediately cancelled and retconned, replaced with a follow-up that would be much more in tune with the TV series. (Plus one that didn’t deal in as many original or “non-canon” characters.) Arnold also went to work on the [[Franchise/StarTrekNovelVerse novels]], bringing his strict editorial sensibilities to bear. Arnold has had a number of choice comments about how he views the writers of tie-in materials, going to far as to suggest that many of the tie-in writers “had never written ''Star Trek''”.** Berman was installed on the show by the studio as a way to keep a handle on the show: keep it under-budget, make sure that the scripts were done on time, filter out any adult material. Ultimately, Berman ended up in control because he played the politics game more effectively and Gene was completely toothless at this time, having driven away all of his allies and handed creative control over to his lawyer, Leonard Maizlish. Maizlish is the big bogeyman of the ''Trek'' world. However, he is credited with keeping the name "Data", casting Creator/JohnDeLancie and hiring Maurice Hurley, which resulted in the debut of the Borg.** One of Ron Moore’s complaints about TNG was that the characters were not allowed to breathe as individuals or embrace other cultures besides Starfleet. You can almost smell his disdain in episodes he penned himself.** According to his book, ''Resistance is Futile: Assimilating Star Trek'', Ira Behr had similar frustrations. Even after Gene passed away, his in-house directorial style lingered and made it difficult to affect lasting change on any of these characters. Both Ira and Moore would jump ship to [=DS9=]. ''That'' show was scripted in large part as an [[CallingTheOldManOut adolescent reaction]] to TNG and Gene's somewhat cranky views.* {{Defictionalization}}:** [[http://www.geekychef.com/2012/04/cellular-peptide-cake-with-mint.html Bake your own cellular peptide cake (with mint frosting!)]]"** [[http://www.startrek.com/article/celebrating-captain-picard-day Don't forget to mark June 16th on your calendars for Captain Picard Day!]]* DescendedCreator: Roddenberry's wife Creator/MajelBarrett, who also played Lwaxana Troi, owned a great deal of the rights and was one of the chief executives owning ''Star Trek'' after her husband's death.* DevelopmentGag: "The Schizoid Man" was originally to have guest-starred Patrick [=McGoohan=]; the title of the episode is the same as that of an episode from his famous series ''Series/ThePrisoner''. Even though [=McGoohan=] did not appear in the episode, the title remained unchanged as a tribute.* DirectedByCastMember: Stewart, Frakes, Burton and [=McFadden=] all directed episodes. [=McFadden=] also choreographed the dance sequences in "Data's Day", Frakes directed two of the movies, and Dorn directed several episodes of [=DS9=].* DoingItForTheArt: ''TNG'''s Blu-ray release was a love letter to the fans and Mike Okuda was brought in to make sure that the remastering was of the highest quality. Because TV production practices of the 80's and 90's involved shooting on film but then scanning the footage onto videotape for editing, there were no completed reels that could be used. Instead, the original raw footage was restored and scanned in its entirety and editors then did a frame-by-frame recreation of each episode. Brand-new special effects were also commissioned as needed to to better fit in with the brighter and clearer images. The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZQetJVRu0I end result]] was universally praised for its quality, especially in comparison to the divisive nature of the Original Series' use of CGI to replace effects wholesale. Unfortunately, the ''TNG'' Blu-ray didn't sell well enough to warrant ''DS9'' and ''Voyager'' receiving similar treatment.* EnforcedMethodActing: The relationships between the characters mirrored the relationships between the actors. Knowing this may cast [[TheChessmaster Gene Roddenberry in a different light.]]* ExecutiveMeddling: ** Is what got Creator/PatrickStewart an audition in the first place! The casting director saw him in a play and wanted him to try out, but Roddenberry was against it - feeling Stewart was too old and too bald to play Picard. Rick Berman admitted to also having doubts, but he was at least willing to give Stewart a shot. Berman, the casting director and production manager Robert H. Justman kept pressuring Roddenberry until he finally relented to seeing Stewart audition.** A minor example having to do with the score. "The Drumhead" is the last episode to be scored by Ron Jones before the brilliant Rick Berman (not the soundest policy maker in the ''Trek'' franchise) fired him to ‘[[TallPoppySyndrome try out new composers.]]’ There’s a reason why people vividly remember the score to "The Best of Both Worlds" but why nobody remembers anything from the last three seasons of TNG. [=DS9=] was affected by this decision with the first three years worth of music proving largely unremarkable before they started using dynamic scores from David Bell et al. from season four onwards.* ExecutiveVeto: Apparently Tracey Tormé has originally wanted to include an Andorian in the episode "Conspiracy", but was informed by a producer (probably Berman) that, “We don’t do antennae on this show.” As such, the Bolians were rolled in as a compromise: blue, antennae-less aliens. Later, [=DS9=] writer and producer Robert Hewitt Wolfe reported that producer Rick Berman did not care for the antennae, and noted that, “if we’d been allowed to, I guarantee we’d’ve put an Andorian on the show so fast your head would’ve spun.“ The Andorians were finally given their day on ''Enterprise'', appearing in several episodes throughout the series.* ExiledFromContinuity: Creator/GeneRoddenberry originally ruled that none of the TOS races and worlds (Vulcans, Klingons, Romulans...) would appear in TNG. The original characters as well as their possible offspring were also forbidden. This rule was obviously relaxed from the start, with the presence of Worf and Bones [=McCoy=] in the pilot, and totally rejected by the third season which featured stories centering on all three races.* FakeBrit: Daniel Davis, who played a hologram of Professor James Moriarty and the snide British butler on ''Series/TheNanny'', hails from the Royal House of Arkansas.* FakeNationality:** It goes without saying that Creator/PatrickStewart is, shocker, not a Frenchman despite all the pepperings of "''Merde''" into his lines.** Keiko is from Japan; Rosalind Chao is Chinese-American. Funnily enough, her [[FountainOfYouth 12-year-old self]] in "Rascals" was played by Caroline Junko King, a Japanese-American, thus getting the ethnicity right.* FanNickname:** Picard's habit of straightening his uniform is called "the Picard Maneuver" by fans (not to be confused with "the Picard Maneuver" from the episode "The Battle").** Riker's... Unconventional method of sitting down (where he appears to mount the chair like a horse, caused by an old back injury and Johnathan Frakes' excessive height) is similarly known as the "Riker Maneuver."** The ''Galaxy''-class starship is often abbreviated to "GCS".** "Cleavage" for Troi.** After the episode ''[[{{Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E16StarshipMine}} Starship Mine]]'', Picard got the name Jean-Luc [[Film/DieHard McClane]]** You'll occasionally come across Picard being referred to as "Space Dad."* FunnyCharacterBoringActor: Inverted with Creator/BrentSpiner's Data, a completely emotionless character played by an utter goofball of an actor.* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Marina Sirtis has a sizable fanbase in Germany (She gloats in one interview that it's the only place where Brent Spiner doesn't have top billing).* HarpoDoesSomethingFunny: Joe Piscopo was reportedly solely responsible for his character's dialogue and jokes in "The Outrageous Okona."* HideYourPregnancy: Creator/GatesMcFadden was pregnant throughout season 4, including during "Remember Me" which contained a couple of physically demanding stunts that she performed herself (she wasn't aware she was pregnant at that point). Later in the season she is shown almost exclusively wearing her "lab coat" and/or being filmed from the sternum up. Fortunately, Crusher often did wear her lab coat outside of the medical bay, so her sudden ''constant'' use of it wasn't quite as noticeable as this trope usually is.* IronyAsSheIsCast: In stark contrast to Picard, Patrick Stewart ''loves'' working with kids.* ItWillNeverCatchOn: When NBC canceled the original series in TheSixties. In TheEighties and TheNineties, ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' was in syndication rather than on a network. It was '''beating''' NFL football, ''60 Minutes'' and other network programming....[[DeathByIrony including NBC's.]]** In fact, Patrick Stewart was convinced by his agent that the show would be a quick failure and then he could return to Britain for theatrical auditions. For the first six weeks of filming, he literally lived out of his suitcases. * KeepCirculatingTheTapes: A VERY rare positive example: ''The Next Level'' was a Blu-Ray disc containing four episodes from the series to showcase the restoration work to make it HD. One of the episodes, ''Sins of the Father'', had a 13 second portion (of Dr. Crusher telling Riker about Worf's nanny) that was upconverted from the standard definition tape because the restoration team couldn't find the original film for that section. After that disc was released, [[CrowningMomentofAwesome they found the film]] and had a true HD version of the portion in the episode in time for the Season 3 Blu-Ray release and is the version released on Netflix and CBS. In terms of the version with the 13 seconds upconverted from the SD tape, it will likely be gone if and when the ''Next Level'' disc goes out of print. As for this being a rare positive example... well, if you had a choice, would you take the version where 13 seconds are a (relatively well done) upconversion or the one that's completely HD? To make it better, the Season 1 set has a documentary about the restoration that talks about the story behind those 13 seconds, meaning the clip can still be seen for historical reference.* KilledByRequest: The actress playing Tasha Yar wasn't interested in continuing with the series, and requested to be killed off during the first season. She later regretted this choice, and came back as a guest star several times.* LifeImitatesArt:** Creator/MichaelDorn [[TheComicallySerious often resembles his character]] during cast reunions. Also, having to modulate his voice for Worf's baritone caused Dorn's real-life (nasally) voice to dip several octaves.** In the Creator/WilliamShatner documentary ''The Captains'', Creator/PatrickStewart's behind-the-scenes experiences at TNG share an odd similarity with his character. Stewart, who was stressed out over succeeding the stars of TOS and his long hours, got the cast together and told them to quit goofing off between takes ("[[StopHavingFunGuys We're not here to HAVE FUN!!]]"); his castmates never let him live ''that'' down. In the long run, TNG taught him to do good work and have fun doing it. This is mirrored by Picard's final line of the show when he joins the Bridge Officers' poker game.* McLeaned: Lt. Natasha Yar was killed by the MonsterOfTheWeek instead of just being transferred to another vessel.* MemorialCharacter: Geordi [=LaForge=], who is named after George [=LaForge=], a disabled ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' fan who died in 1975.* TheMerch: ''Next Gen'' had ''two'' distinct toylines. The first, by Creator/{{Galoob}}, came out during the first few seasons. It featured 3.75" figures (in scale with ''Franchise/StarWars'') and smallish, die-cast vehicles including an Enterprise whose saucer detached. A few years later, Creator/PlaymatesToys came out with its own line, which...Let's just say that ''Next Gen'' was a landmark moment in toys, even more so than ''Star Wars''. The figures boasted superior sculpting and articulation (though sitting down looked slightly unnatural), ''there were aliens and villains right in the first run'', and the line made incredibly creative use of electronics, with sound effects taken directly from the show! What's more, the show itself provided more than ample inspiration for variants, including the "Holodeck Adventures" line. Playmates held onto the license with its teeth, providing lines for ''Deep Space Nine'', ''Voyager'', the Original Series (which got its own badass boxed-set), the movies, ''Enterprise'', and the first J.J. Abrams movie.* OfficialFanSubmittedContent- The episode "True Q" was inspired by a fan's suggestion, and may be a nod to the fact that [[FanFic/ATrekkiesTale the original MarySue]] was a Star Trek fanfic.* TheOtherDarrin: Spot. Yep. Data's first feline friend was a long-haired Somali, while later ones are played by a generic short-haired tabby. This has caused some ''Trek'' authorities to joke that Spot [[EpilepticTrees is a shapeshifter in disguise]], or else lost his fur in a transporter accident.* PlayingAgainstType: ** It's old news now, but Dwight Schulz's transition from the half-deranged (and so [[BunnyEarsLawyer half-sane!]]) "Howlin' Mad" Murdoch to the buttoned-down, mousey Reginald "Reg" Barclay was a novelty indeed. It paid off: Barclay is equally as -- if not more -- famous as his star-making role on ''The A-Team''.** Brent Spiner was primarily a comedic actor before being cast as Data. Of all the ''TNG'' regulars, Spiner probably goofed off the most between takes, which is why Data is always wearing a semi-menacing grin in behind-the-scenes footage. However, he got to cut loose in "The Outrageous Okona", which had Data practicing his [[BorschtBelt Henny Youngman]] routine in a comedy club.** TNG had a habit of casting noted TV "bad guys" in benign or heroic roles. Jonathan Frakes is the biggest example, as his career up that point had been almost entirely villain roles. Others include Harry Groener as Tam Elbrun, John Vickery as Andrus Hagan (he'll be back as a backstabbing Gul in [=DS9's=] "Final Chapter"), Ronnie Cox as Captain Jellico, Christopher [=McDonald=] as Richard Castillo, Paul Sorvino as Worf's brother Nikolai, Robert Knepper as Wyatt Miller (he would later play the heavy in VOY's "Dragon's Teeth"), and Spencer Garrett as Simon Tarses (he would go on to play one of the killer holograms in VOY's "Flesh and Blood"). No such luck for Marc Alaimo, though; he played ''four'' bad guys!* PromotedFanboy: Both Creator/WilWheaton and Creator/LeVarBurton were Trekkies at the time of their hiring.* [[PromotedFanboy Promoted Fangirl]]: Creator/WhoopiGoldberg was a huge fan of [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries the original series]] and has specifically named Creator/NichelleNichols as her inspiration for acting. Just before the second season entered production, she called Roddenberry, saying "I am a ''Star Trek'' fan, I was a ''Star Trek'' fan long before I was ever Whoopi Goldberg and I'm wondering if there's some part I can play in your show?" Roddenberry was so impressed that he re-wrote the bartender character he had intended to introduce for Goldberg.* RealitySubtext: Creator/LeVarBurton would often get headaches from the devices on his temples that were used to hold the VISOR in place. Likewise, Geordi would occasionally mention headaches as a side effect of wearing the VISOR.* RecycledScript:** Riker is based on Willard Decker from the cancelled series ''Star Trek: Phase II'', which was turned into ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture''.** Probably an aversion with Worf; the DC Star Trek comics had long featured a Klingon in Starfleet named [[http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Konom Konom]], but his backstory and character are very different from Worf's and Roddenberry probably had a similar idea independently. ** Troi is based on Ilia from ''Star Trek: Phase II'' (which was cancelled and re-worked into ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'').** Data is derived from the character Xon from the cancelled ''Franchise/StarTrek: Phase 2''. Xon was a full-blooded Vulcan, the idea being that he would provide a contrast to the vanished Spock--whereas Spock was always denying his human side and embracing his Vulcan, Xon would already be secure in his Vulcan-ness and thus be more intrigued and curious about understanding human emotions. This eventually mutated into the idea of an emotionless android seeking to achieve those human emotions. * RomanceOnTheSet: Patrick Stewart, on the lookout for the ''next'' Ex-Ms. Patrick Stewart, dated Jennifer Hetrick (Vash) during Seasons 3 & 4. They were briefly engaged during "Q-Pid", but nothing came of it. In 2000, six years after TNG ended, Stewart and producer Wendy Neuss did marry. They divorced three years later.* SeparatedAtBirthCasting: Most of the actors playing blood relatives to cast members look impressively like them. For longevity, Majel Barret very much seemed like Marina Sirtis mother, in "Man of the People" where Sirtis had aging make-up on the similarity became uncanny. There was also Jeremy Kemp as Picard's brother Robert. Then there was the child actors playing Picard, Keiko, Ro and Guinan in "Rascals," David Tristen Burken previously played Picard's nephew in "Family" while Isis Jones also played a younger version of Whoopi Goldberg in ''Film/SisterAct''.* ShrugOfGod: Ron Moore mentioned in the ''Star Trek: The Next Generation Companion'' that he'd considered writing that the ancient humanoids from "The Chase" that [[{{Panspermia}} seeded humanoids throughout the galaxy]] were the same species as the Preservers from ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', but decided against it. He said that they ''could'' be the Preservers and have it be internally consistent. ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'' {{Arc Weld|ing}}ed the two.* TalkingToHimself: Riker in "Second Chances". Any time Lwaxana Troi interacts with the computer. * TechnologyMarchesOn: TNG foresaw the prevalence of tablet devices like the iPad, though this show, as well as [[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine DS9]] and [[Series/StarTrekVoyager VOY]], thought we'd use dozens of tablets at a time rather than just one.* ThrowItIn:** "Skin of Evil" was Denise Crosby's last aired episode[[note]]other than her coming BackForTheDead in an AlternateTimeline in "Yesterday's Enterprise"[[/note]], with her character being killed off. In the previous episode, "Symbiosis" (which was actually filmed later), she's in the background at the end, as Picard and Crusher enter the turbolift. Just as the doors close she waves goodbye to the camera.** In "[=QPid=]", Vash has been transformed into Lady Marian by Q. As they were filming the scene where she paces back and forth in her cell, Jennifer Hetrick tripped over her dress. The director left it in reasoning that a 24th century woman would not be used to walking in 12th-century finery.* TroubledProduction:** The series had a rough ride for its first couple of seasons, mostly due to Creator/GeneRoddenberry's declining health, substance abuse, spaced-out mental state, and the ridiculously high turnover rate in his writing staff for the first two seasons. [[EnsignNewbie Roddenberry's lawyer]] took control of the writing staff for most of the first season (supposedly rewriting scripts, against Writers' Guild rules, at one point), leading to the departure of TOS mainstays David Gerrold and D.C. Fontana after he began retaliating against them for complaints (Gerrold left amicably, or so he thought, only to be blackballed after Gene "The Great Bird" Roddenberry told everyone he was fired for his incompetence). Near the end of the season cast member Denise Crosby, who got pissed off at being a glorified extra, also left.** The prototype uniforms smelled bad (spandex retains bodily oils more than the newer cloth uniforms) and gave the actors back problems.** Things got a bit better for the second season where Maurice Hurley took over the writing staff, but since a ''lot'' of TV writers chose to sit out the whole 1988-89 season after the 1988 WGA strike it left no more than about four or five writers (two of whom worked as a team) working on the show at any one point. It didn't help that, according to Tracy Torme at least, Hurley didn't get along with anybody and only differed from Roddenberry's lawyer in that he actually had writing experience. There were also rumors that Hurley had a big crush on Gates [=McFadden=] and expressed it like any four-year-old would: he had her written out of the second season (replacing her with Dr. Pulaski) when she brushed him off. It wasn't until the third season, when Roddenberry's health wouldn't allow him to even work, which allowed Rick Berman and Michael Piller to gently steal control of the production and the show started to balance out, although even then there were a few bumps along the way, including Piller managing to provoke the entire writing staff he inherited from Hurley into quitting after circulating an insensitively-worded "tips on writing for TV" memo, and Roddenberry still occasionally vetoing story ideas and throwing in bizarre suggestions.** Even by the standards of the first two seasons, the infamous episode "Code of Honor" stands out. One of the two original writers took his name off it after it was heavily rewritten, and that was ''before'' the director they hired chose to populate the aliens of the week entirely with African-American guest actors, whom he proceeded to treat like garbage (though apparently he didn't treat the main cast a whole lot better). Eventually Roddenberry decided enough was enough and canned the director, leaving the first assistant director to pick up the pieces for the remainder of the shoot... which just happened to include the episode's big action sequence. Most of the main cast members (Creator/JonathanFrakes, Creator/BrentSpiner and Creator/WilWheaton especially) have had some rather choice words about the episode in recent years. Not to mention that many of the writers felt Roddenberry's rewrite put it beyond any chance of salvation. He had supposedly told one of the two original writers, on another episode, that the ''Enterprise'' doesn't fire warning shots ... only to add a scene in this episode where it did exactly that. Gah.* UnintentionalPeriodPiece:** "Tip O'Neill in a dress?"** The doomed science vessel in "The Naked Now", the ''SS Tsiolkovsky'', has a plaque stating that it was [[TheGreatPoliticsMessUp built in the USSR.]]*** Possible, despite real-world politics, given Trek's timeline with the Eugenics Wars and World War 3** In "The Royale", Picard refers to Fermat's Last Theorem as having been unsolved for over 800 years. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Wiles Whoops.]] This was later corrected in the [=DS9=] episode "Facets".** Also in "The Royale", debris from a NASA spacecraft, which according to this episode took part in a mission in the mid 21st century, are beamed aboard the Enterprise. However, the NASA [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a3/NASA_Worm_logo.svg/256px-NASA_Worm_logo.svg.png "Worm logo"]] seen on the debris was actually replaced by the [[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e5/NASA_logo.svg/300px-NASA_logo.svg.png "Meatball logo"]] in 1992.* WagTheDirector: Patrick Stewart wasn't too thrilled with his stodgy, preachy, apparently sexless Captain in Seasons 1-2, and intimated that he might leave the show if something wasn't done about it. (Actually, the phrase he used according to Ron D. Moore was "there isn't nearly enough shooting and screwing on this show.") The vacation episode, "Captain's Holiday," was tailored-made to please Patrick.* WhatCouldHaveBeen:** Creator/RobinWilliams was offered the part of the time-traveling "Dr." Berlinghoff Rasmussen in "A Matter of Time", but he was busy working on ''Film/{{Hook}}'' at the time, so the role was given to Matt Frewer. (''Max Headroom'').** Stewart auditioned for TNG three times. Once for Data and twice for Picard. Once bald and once [[DodgyToupee wearing a hairpiece.]]** [[Series/BattlestarGalactica2003 Edward James Olmos]] was offered the part of Jean-Luc Picard, but declined due to his contractual obligations. Stephen Macht also auditioned for the role, but would later star in "The Circle" and "The Siege", a [=DS9=] two-parter.** Marina Sirtis and Denise Crosby were originally going to play Yar and Troi respectively, but switched roles at the last minute.** The writers considered having Riker die in "Second Chances", to be replaced by his transporter duplicate. The ranks of the characters would be changed accordingly, with the new Riker remaining a Lt. Commander. It was a way to introduce a new character (of sorts) while using the same actor. It's one of many examples of extensive character development that was proposed but rejected on the series.** According to Jeri Taylor, at one point Geordi La Forge was planned to be revealed as the product of alien experimentation on his mother, and an episode was planned to involve said aliens returning to retrieve him. According to her, it was conceived to give him some needed character development, but was rejected, probably because it would have weirded out viewers. Even stranger, the concept was almost revived in VOY, with Harry Kim planned to have a very similar backstory, but it too was rejected.** The Borg were planned to be insectoid aliens but the special effects budget wouldn't cut it. The concept was reused for the Jarada, who we never see on-screen.** The writers considered crashing the ship's saucer section on a planet as the cliffhanger ending of Season 6, but the budget didn't allow for it. This was eventually used in ''Film/StarTrekGenerations'' instead. Separating the saucer itself was planned to be a much more common tactic, but again effects expenses meant it was only used four times. In addition, halfway through season one it had become painfully obvious that saucer separation was time-consuming and destroyed the pacing, a major issue when it was supposed to happen halfway through dramatic battle sequences.** The original idea for the season 6 cliffhanger was to be a two parter titled "All Good Things" that would have had Starfleet all of a sudden decommissioning the Enterprise and splitting the crew up. On the way back to Earth, the Enterprise would be attacked, have to use the saucer separation with the lower half blowing up and forcing the saucer section to crash. If this sounds familiar, it should. Besides re-using the name for the series finale they wrote, the crash sequence was used in Generations, where due to the film budget, was most likely used to greater effect. The reason this concept was ditched was because the producers and Paramount had no desire to shake up the series (especially as the first feature film was already in the works) or to destroy the Enterprise-D (to keep it for the aforementioned film) despite the fact that much of the writing team wanted to destroy the ship and replace it with a sleaker, "cooler" ship. This probably was the motivation for the beefed-up future Enterprise-D in "All Good Things" and most certainly the motivation behind the Enterprise-E.** Several attempts were made to introduce the Mirror Universe into TNG. Even Jerome Bixby, the writer of "Mirror, Mirror", submitted a script that would have served as a sequel. It was apparently rejected because it called for guest appearances from TOS. In general, Rick Berman and Michael Piller were disinterested in TNG revisiting the Mirror Universe because they felt the concept was too cheesy and out-of-date for the series, so that's the real reason we never got a Mirror Universe episode. DS9, being staffed by fans of TOS, would eventually re-visit the Mirror Universe to mixed results, with ENT also re-visiting it to surprisingly greater effect, with its Mirror two-parter being its most popular episodes. The non-canon novel "Dark Mirror" released in 1993 (which ended up influencing ENT's foray into the Mirror Universe) and the IDW comic "Mirror Broken" released in 2017, which both explore alternate takes on the Mirror Universe Enterprise-D are pretty popular, so it's interesting to speculate how TNG would handled the concept.** Everyone knows about "Blood and Fire", but another episode with similar themes was planned involving Wesley Crusher dating a beautiful alien girl, who in the course of the episode, gets a sex change. Depending on how this would have been handled, this could have been a landmark episode for television, though it most certainly would have been a source of mockery for the character, given how hated he is in the fandom.** Creator/WesleySnipes was considered to star as Geordi [=LaForge=]. Tim [[Series/StarTrekVoyager "Tuvok"]] Russ also auditioned for the role. He came ''that'' close to getting it, too.** Among the actors that auditioned for Riker were Creator/JeffreyCombs and Vaughn Armstrong - both of whom became pretty well-known to viewers regardless.** How much better would "The Outcast" have been if the actors playing the sexless J'naii were ''male'' instead of female? Jonathan Frakes criticized the staff for not doing that and making the message of the episode that much stronger.** Maurice Hurleys original plan with the Borg was for season 2 to be a story-arc involving the Federation teaming up with the Romulans (and others) to fight off the Borg and defeat them once and for all. One wonders how that would have turned out and what effects it would have had on the franchise.** The "anti-time future" in "All Good Things..." was originally going to involve Picard and co. having to steal the Enterprise D from a fleet museum, as a homage to Star Trek III. The sequence would have involved the crew having to go through a museum tour in disguise, with docents getting their names wrong and gawkish tourists annoying them. According to Brannon Braga, it was rejected for being too silly. Ron Moore regretted not being able to keep this in the script, and referenced the concept on Battlestar Galactica.** "All Good Things" was originally going to feature four time periods, the fourth being the events of "The Best of Both Worlds", with Picard as Locutus. This was Braga and Moore's attempt to have the Borg featured in the series finale, which they felt should appear as villains, and have the episode be a follow-up of sorts to the infamous two-parter. Michael Piller felt the four time periods was too confusing, so they chose to ditch it instead of replacing one of the other time periods. Braga and Moore feel "Star Trek: First Contact" was a superior follow-up anyway, so they don't regret canning the Borg here.** The writing team tried several times to write a sequel to "The Best of Both Worlds" but nothing got further than the concept phase, because no one could think of another clever way to defeat the Borg. Eventually they gave up and opted to tell a very different Borg story with "I, Borg", where the crew rescues a lone drone who eventually gains individuality and rejects being a Borg, being named "Hugh". It paid off, as the episode proved popular enough to get a follow up in the two parter "Descent" and served as the template for Seven of Nine on Voyager. Hugh was apparently even planned to appear in early versions of "All Good Things". Of course, BOBW would eventually get a proper sequel with the film Star Trek: First Contact, which unsurprisingly is the only TNG film most fans actually like.** Yesterdays Enterprise was originally conceived as two separate episodes, one fittingly enough also titled Yesterdays Enterprise and the other unnamed. In the original Yesterdays Enterprise, the Enterprise C also accidentally comes forward in time. However it causes no changes in the timeline when discovered by the Enterprise-D, and the entire episode would have centered around Picard having to make a decision to send it back and preserve the timeline, where they would lose a hopeless battle or risk altering time by keeping them in the present. The other episode would have involved Sarek and a group of Vulcans revisiting the Guardian of Forever to go back to Vulcan pre-history. They would have fucked up the timeline and accidentally killed Surak, creating a timeline where a violent Vulcan race had arisen. They would have eventually discovered and merged with the Romulans to form a Vulcan-Romulan Empire and would have rampaged across the galaxy, exterminating the Klingons and fighting the Federation (who formed without them) in a bitter war the Federation was losing. The episode would have even featured the alternate universe Vulcans planning to use the Guardian of Forever to alter Earth's history and prevent the Federation from ever forming, wich sounds a lot like Star Trek: First Contact (which even the writers Trent Christopher Ganin and Eric A. Stillwell have pointed out). Sarek would remain unaffected, be captured by the Enterprise D where after a mind meld with Picard, is allowed to return through the Guardian of Forever and take the place of Surak to preserve the timeline. Both episode pitches were received well, but Michael Piller suggested merging the ideas together, and Ronald D. Moore ended up changing the Vulcans into Klingons and using the episode to explain how the Klingons and the Federation became allies (which funningly enough is contradicted a year later with the film Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, which eventually had to be reconciled with this episode).** Ira Steven Behr and Ronald D Moore wanted to feature more gruesome deaths for several characters at the end of Yesterdays Enterprise, including Data being electrocuted and having Wesley Crusher graphically decapitated by debris! Riker's on-screen death was also supposed to be more gruesome, with his throat slit and spurting blood. To make things even darker, the Klingon commanding the ships doing all this damage would have been Worf! So he would have been brutally murdering his friends. Moore and Behr were disappointed this wasn't filmed, which they claim was because the producers didn't want to depress audiences, though it was also likely cut due to the graphic nature of the violence.** Dr. Selar (from "The Schzoid Man" and repeatedly referenced) was originally intended to be a recurring character and would develop a romance with Worf, since there was a drought of Vulcans on the show and pairing one up with a Klingon sounded interesting. But this was scuttled when K'Ehleyr was introduced later the same season. Incidentally, both characters have similar names (seriously, try sounding them out) and were played by StatuesqueStunner Suzie Plakson.** The ''Enterprise'' was originally going to be the seventh rather than fifth ship to bear the name, and was referred to in the script as the ''Enterprise Seven'' rather than the ''Enterprise-''D we know and love.** Originally it was going to be Picard hopping between realities in "Parallels" but Brannon Braga thought Picard's relationships wouldn't change much from reality to reality, and thus would be less jarring, so he decided to make it happen to Worf instead.** The writers considered bringing back Denise Crosby as Tasha in one of the alternate universes in "Parallels", but decided against it, feeling it'd be redundant after "Yesterday's Enterprise".** The Q Continuum were originally going to be many people with the same face. This portrayal is rather apparent in "Encounter At Farpoint," with each change of costume Q goes through usually resulting in a change in attitude and demeanor. However, by Q's next appearance, this particular idea seems to have been dropped, with Q acting as a single individual, and later episodes (and ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'') introduced additional members of the Q Continuum.** The writers didn't know what to do with Troi in Season 1, even omitting her from four episodes just to save themselves the trouble. Marina Sirtis has said she was nearly let go after Season 1 because of this. She was only kept on because Denise Crosby had already left and Creator/GatesMcFadden would soon decide to leave.** At one point Wesley Crusher was planned as a female character named Leslie Crusher, as the TNG creators thought the teenaged boy genius was too much of a cliché. (They were probably right.) Although considering that a female genius would have been MarySue, it was kind of a no-win situation.** Ronald D. Moore considered bringing Captain Jellico back to be the commander of the ''Enterprise'' in the AlternateTimeline presented in the episode "Tapestry".** One of the people who was considered a favorite for the role that eventually became Tasha Yar was Rosalind Chao, who later portrayed Keiko O'Brien. ** Patrick Stewart's contract was up for renewal at the end of season three, and he waffled a bit over whether he would continue with the show. Hence, "The Best of Both Worlds Part 1" was constructed around the possibility of losing Picard (with no forward planning on how to resolve the story either way).** It was because he renewed his contract for ''TNG'' that Stewart was unable to take three major roles at Creator/{{Disney}}, which were The Beast and Jafar in the [[Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon Disney Animated Classics]] ''Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast'' and ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}'', respectively, and then as Goliath in Creator/GregWeisman's ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'', which featured nearly every other member of the ''TNG'' crew.** Beverly was supposed to be the ship's schoolteacher--not doctor. According to David Gerrold, this was changed when he suddenly suggested it during a lunch and the other present writers saw the benefits (such as complicating the ShipTease with Picard and not having to create a separate character to be the doctor).* WordOfSaintPaul: The ''Star Trek The Next Generation Technical Manual'', in its entry on the Captain's Yacht, includes an out-of-universe sidebar that says "Creator/PatrickStewart informs us the yacht is named ''Calypso'' after Jacques Cousteau's vessel", in a way that suggests that, as far as the writers of the ''Manual'' are concerned, he should know. This was never confirmed on screen, since the ''Enterprise''-D yacht was never used (or even confirmed to ''exist''), but was nodded to in ''Film/StarTrekInsurrection'', where the yacht on the ''Enterprise''-E is called the ''Cousteau''.** Also from the technical manual, Rick Sternback had a pet idea for "Cetacean Ops" -- literally, navigation research that's being handled by [[SpaceWhale a dozen dolphins being overseen by a couple of whales]] -- in huge underwater tanks throughout the ship. It got a mention in "Yesterday's Enterprise" and "The Perfect Mate", but goes otherwise unregarded by other writers.* YouLookFamiliar:** Most jarring of all is James Cromwell as the leader of a potential new Federation alliance world in "The Hunted", when he later played Cochrane in ''Film/StarTrekFirstContact''.\\\He also played Zaglom Shrek in "Birthright Pts. 1 & 2", and Hanok in "Starship Down" ([=DS9=]), though you can't see his face in those.** Marc Alaimo appeared as a minor RubberForeheadAlien in Season 1's "Lonely Among Us"; Romulan Commander Tebok later that season in "The Neutral Zone"; a 19th century gambler in Season 5's "Time's Arrow"; and most notably, he played the first-ever Cardassian in ''Star Trek'', Gul Macet in "The Wounded". Marc Alaimo would become, in ''Deep Space Nine'', Gul Dukat, the main adversary of Captain Sisko.** Max Grodenchik as the very typical conniving, treacherous Ferengi Sovak in "Captain's Holiday"; better known for his later role as the very ''a''typical (and somewhat dim) Rom from [=DS9=].** Armin Shimerman played both Letek, one of the first Ferengi ever shown onscreen in "The Last Outpost", another Ferengi, Bractor in "Peak Performances", and the better known Quark -- also from ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]].'' He also briefly appeared in "Haven" as the Betazoid Gift Box, though it's a bit hard to recognize that one.** Look out for the future Tuvok (Tim Russ) playing a human terrorist in "Starship Mine" (and, ironically, ''being the recipient of a Vulcan nerve pinch.'') He also plays an unnamed human bridge crew member in the 23rd century in ''Generations''.** Robert Duncan [=McNeill=], ''[[Series/StarTrekVoyager Voyager]]'''s Tom Paris, as Nicholas Locarno in "The First Duty." (The character of Locarno was the inspiration for Paris.)\\\The ''Voyager'' creators say they didn't plan to hire the same actor; once they realized they had, they considered making [=McNeill=] Locarno on ''Voyager'', but reformulated him into Paris, feeling that Locarno "couldn't be redeemed enough" (read: they didn't want to pay royalties) for what they planned with Paris.*** Hey, that Ferengi doctor in "Menage a Troi" sure sounds a lot like Neelix... At one point on ''Voyager'' ("False Profits"), Neelix is forced to get makeup and surgery so that he looks like the Grand Nagus of the Ferengi, and the actor pulls it off again with great aplomb. Said actor would go on to be one of the 'first' Ferengi ever, in the [[Series/StarTrekEnterprise ENT]] episode "Acquisition".\\\Also, keep an eye out for Phillips in ''Star Trek: First Contact''. He is the holographic maître d' who tries to boot the Borg out of his club, saying they aren't dressed properly.** Patricia Tallman, known for playing Lyta the telepath on [=B5=], has a Memory Alpha entry as long as Patrick Stewart himself. Before she got her break, she was a [[http://i.stack.imgur.com/Kfx7W.jpg stunt double]] for the female leads on TNG (barring Whoopi), along with a few on [=DS9=]. She also has uncredited roles as a petty officer ("Power Play"), a Klingon (''Generations''), and a space siren in ''Star Trek: Voyager'' ("Fortunate Son").\\\She only had two speaking roles in ''Star Trek'': one of the hijackers "Starship Mine", and the fake Romulan in "Timescape."** W. Morgan Sheppard is a name which may be familiar to you: ''Star Trek'', ''Babylon 5'', and even ''Doctor Who''. He's first seen here in "The Schizoid Man" as Data's 'uncle'. You can also watch him as a Klingon in ''[[Film/StarTrekVITheUndiscoveredCountry Star Trek VI]]'' and the Ahab-like alien in VOY's "Bliss".\\\Most recently, he was told to get stuffed (figuratively speaking) by Zachary Quinto in the Abrams ''Star Trek'' movie.** Roy Brocksmth had one-shot appearances here and in [=DS9=]: As a Zakdorn in "Peak Performance" and a Bajoran smuggler in "Indiscretion". His most famous role, however, is Dr. Edgemar in ''[[Film/TotalRecall1990 Total Recall]]''.** James Sloyan is an authoritative actor who has played four aliens, usually with some sort of dark secret attached. He also [[ChronicallyKilledActor died often]]: Admiral Jerok in "The Defector" (suicide), Future!Alexander in "Firstborn" (erased from history), and Jetrel in the eponymous VOY episode (terminal disease). He also had a recurring role on [=DS9=] as Odo's "father", Dr. Mora.** Eric Pierpoint had guest roles in all four spinoffs: a shape-shifter who attempted to try it on with Picard ("Liaisons"), a Starfleet Captain in "For the Uniform" ([=DS9=]), the Klingons' answer to Judas Iscariot in "Barge of the Dead" (VOY), a big game hunter in "Rogue Planet" (ENT), and a Section 31 honcho during the Terra Prime arc (ENT). He is probably best known for his role as Det. Francisco in the cult show ''Series/AlienNation''.** John Vickery had a good hit rate: Going from a (mute) Betazed in "Night Terrors", to a Cardassian Gul in four episodes of ''[=DS9=]'', to Klingon prosecutor in an ENT episode, "Judgement". ''Series/BabylonFive'' aficionados know him as Neroon.** Suzie Plakson as Selar, K'ehlyr, and the female Q on ''Voyager'', to name one.** Carolyn Seymour plays a Romulan in "Contagion", an alien scientist who chooses to leave her people in "First Contact" and finally reprises her Romulan role as Captain Toreth in "Face of the Enemy" (a GoodTroiEpisode).** ‘Some day I’m going to be a Starship Captain!’ says Rene Picard, which is almost a portent of the future since David Tristan Birkin would go on to play Baby!Picard in "Rascals."** Christopher Collins, AKA [[TheStarscream Chris Latta]] played a Klingon Captain in ''A Matter of Honor'' and later plays a Pakled in ''The Samaritan Snare''. Might be more of a case of You ''Sound'' Familiar.** Michelle Forbes played a small role in season 5's "Half A Life" before coming back in Season 6 as semi regular Ensign Ro Laren.** Charles Cooper played a drunken and disgraced Klingon general in ''Film/StarTrekVTheFinalFrontier''. Here, he got to play the much more dignified Chancellor K'mpec in "Sins of the Father" and "Reunion."

!!Trivia for [[Pinball/StarTrekTheNextGeneration the pinball machine]]:* HeyItsThatSound: During the mission "Time Rift", one of the sound effects was Sub-Zero's Freeze attack from ''VideoGame/MortalKombat2''.* ReferencedBy: Admiral Biagie [[TheCameo cameos]] in ''Pinball/WorldCupSoccer''.* UrbanLegendOfZelda: The operator's manual for the ''Pinball/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' pinball mentions a "secret VideoMode" in the game[[note]]allegedly a version of ''VideoGame/{{Breakout}}''[[/note]], and there are two operator settings to control it. Problem is, no one knows how to activate it, and it's unclear if the mode is actually enabled in the final game or not. It can sometimes be seen on the display in the game's attract mode, however.* WhatCouldHaveBeen: According to programmer Dwight Sullivan, this game was to have been based on ''{{Film/Under Siege}}''.